Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ

I couldn’t sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Aren’s face and his body sketched by my imagination. I had been living a sexless life for three years, but seriously? I wasn’t some starving cavewoman, and most of all, I had my dignity. I would never let some arrogant rich boy touch me in real life like that.

The next day, I showed up at work looking as if I had died and resurrected twice. I used half of the concealer I had to cover the enormous dark circles under my eyes. It helped just enough so I could stop resembling a panda. I managed to fix my face, but it was harder to fix the mess inside me. I was anxious. I didn’t know how I would react if I saw Aren Lan again, especially after dreaming of his… Well, I needed to start acting like a sane person, which was hard considering that I jumped nervously each time I heard a bell ringing and customers walking in.

Luckily, he didn’t show up that day. The same happened the next day and the day after. My life went back to normal. Aren Lan’s face faded in my memory, which helped stabilize my emotions. I was almost certain that our paths would never cross again. We might have been living in the same city, but, considering his wealth, he inhabited a different universe.

That day, my shift was shorter. I took off my apron and rushed to leave Manhattan for my other, computer-related job. Our workshop was in the basement of an old tenement house in Brooklyn. The building was neglected and almost completely abandoned, with only an old lady and the owner living there. Nonetheless, Norton, Alan, and I couldn’t even dream of a better place. Of course, we had put a lot of work into adapting this place, but no one bothered us, and the rent was low. We couldn’t have asked for more.

The three of us met online a few years ago. Two issues brought us close: the fact that we were from New York and that we loved computers. After some time, we learned to have another thing in common… None of us had a diploma, although we all had mad skills.

Alan Harada was a genius hacker. He could win against any type of security. Unfortunately, he was once convicted after drunk hacking one of the banks to impress a girl. After it had happened, he was disinherited by his conservative Japanese family. Well, at least he got laid the other night… Like me, Norton Edavane could have been an amazing programmer, but he didn’t have money to study. Certainly, he could have gotten a scholarship, but his social skills were far worse than mine, and his agoraphobia hadn’t been helpful either. Now we were working together, fixing computers, and providing online advice. We were able to make some nice profit from time to time, but it was a freelance job while the bills came steadily every month. Nevertheless, we all loved our work in the workshop. It was our safe haven, our home, the only place where we could all breathe…

“We’re getting evicted.” Alan waved a piece of paper in front of my eyes as soon as I walked in.

I stepped back, blinking in shock. “What do you mean by evicted?” I laughed nervously, still hoping it was a joke.

“Mr. Welsh sold the whole building,” Norton explained in his usual, emotionless way. “Those who bought it plan to renovate it and turn it into a hotel.”

I leaned my back against the wall. My knees turned weak, and my head began to spin. I wouldn’t bat an eye if something had happened to Café Dorado. It would be bothersome to look for another job, and I would miss working with Monique and Marco, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. THIS was the end of the world. Where else in New York would we find a place to rent for five hundred dollars a month?!

“This cannot be happening…” I mumbled.

“Oh, but it is.” Alan nodded agitatedly, looking at me with his narrowed brown eyes.

would Mr. Welsh live now?” My mind was desperate to prove that

buying an apartment next to where his son lives,” Norton

what about poor Mrs. Gordon? She doesn’t have a family, and she’s like 90 years old or something. Isn’t it too cruel to evict a lonely

me a wry smile.

out along with the last ounce of

Norton and Alan joined me there, sitting

owner gives us time until the end of the month. Then we have to move out or pay twenty times the rent we paid.” Alan

earn a cent if we pay ten thousand dollars a month for the rent! Not to mention that this place

it was a basement that we filled with computers and cables and other equipment. We were able to work there, but there were no customers allowed for a reason. It was our restricted area. We were meeting with clients outside the workshop, taking their things to fix them at the workshop, and then bringing them back to our clients again. It was convenient for us, especially for Norton, who had a hard time

“I refuse to give up like that. We should at least find

belongs to

we find them. We need to force them to give us

painted Alan’s face. “I’m on it,” he said and rushed to his

began to tap the keyboard at a furious speed. I was about to join him when I received a message from Doctor William Crawford, the one taking

meet me at the clinic when you’re able to,”

up to my feet before I knew it. My hands were shaking. My heart started to pound

out a sound as it squeezed through my

compassionate smile on Norton’s face while Alan got up, and walked to me

Then he pushed me out of the workshop, urging me not

that I was on my way. Half an hour later, I was running to his office on the fifth floor of Crawford’s